December 2014 Archives

By Ralf Schumann - Whenever the discussion comes to halal certification, one moral relativist will throw in the red herring: "But what about kosher?!"Yes, what about kosher? Let's go and check the facts.

Today your odds are 3 to 1 that the meat sold in Australia comes from an animal that died at the hands of a male Muslim, who slit the poor creature's throat while dedicating it to his Allah. Your chances with beef are 50:50, however, with chicken, lamb or goat it is now close to 100%. Most meat today comes from halal-certified abattoirs and usually remains unlabelled at point of sale. If you doubt the numbers, ask your butcher, or write to the Australian Meat Industry Council.

Now go shopping and try to buy some certified kosher meat at your local butcher or supermarket. Let me know how it went, please. This is usually the point where moral relativism collapses and the red herring reeks of hypocrisy: In reality there is no comparing the certification of kosher with halal.